The Union Minister, who recently met Tesla Motors and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in the US, said that he has offered the company to run the pilot project of its Hyperloop technology, between Mumbai and Pune beside the Expressway.

Gadkari said that the Hyperloop -a technology based on tubes within which bus-sized capsules travel at near supersonic speed — 1,200-kmph — due to low air pressure- can cut the distance between his hometown Nagpur and Mumbai in 35 minutes. The minister said that the govt has also offered free land near the port to start a manufacturing facility, adding that “it is up to Tesla to decide whether or not to accept my offer.”